Concurrent Skies
by Maze-Eye
Summary: A momentous celebration approaches... Mysterious fires in the disputed East... Dark rumours whisper throughout the land... And one dragon in the heart of it all... Cynder's world has changed so much since her dark childhood. When old foes of Warfang suddenly announce their presence, Cynder has nervous suspicions that shadows from her past are involved.


...

~ CONCURRENT SKIES ~

...

**Prologue**

The forest was dense and hazy. The canopy blocked out most of the late afternoon sky and only shallow beams of sunlight peeped through the thick foliage. It would be dark soon. Wildlife began retreating to their burrows for the night. The daytime chirping of nearby birds gave way to the howling of distant wolves and hooting of owls.

The thick brush of the forest floor soaked up what was left of the dying light. Only the odd spirit gem and the warm flickering torchlight from two Skavengers shone in the darkening woods. They trudged through the dense forest, keeping to a small dirt track as their only bearings. Both were disgruntled and tired, carrying large steel-bracketed chests on their backs. Despite the heavy load, the smaller Skavenger incessantly annoyed the leading one.

"Why couldn't they just wait for us?! We need a rest every so often, ya know," he complained.

"They did, Quabbe," Elovi groaned. "_You_ took too long in that crystal cave back there!"

"That's not _my_ fault! I'm not gonna pass up some good loot like that. Check out what I got again."

Elovi whirled around before Quabbe could open up his loot sack, flicking the torch past his face. "No!" he growled at Quabbe's dumbfounded face. "I don't want to hear another word of it! I just want to carry this haul, get out of this forest, and go back to my quarters. Got it?!"

Quabbe blinked and quickly nodded. He lowered his gaze and tied up his sack. Confident the little twerp had shut up, Elovi turned back to the trail and pressed on.

They followed the beaten track as it meandered through the forest. Elovi occasionally looked up at the canopy to determine the time. Birdsong could still be heard in the leafy branches high above. Some were repetitive, but others were captivating to listen to. Rarely did he get to experience these little moments. The gentle forest air, the sounds of nature, the quiet musings of his own thoughts; it was nice.

He sighed to himself, knowing it wouldn't last. When they got back to the ship, Elovi would go back to working below deck, seeing to ship maintenance and other boring duties. Only the young and strong got to work up on deck and enjoy the fresh air. He still had terrific eyesight and visual memory, but his bad arm meant he couldn't regularly climb to the crow's nest.

Elovi remembered better days: wearing the captain's hat, giving orders from the helm, a few good mates at his behest, a small galley but quick in the wind. He acquired them in the chaos following the disbanding of Skabb the Brilliant's armada. He'd never liked dragons, but he was pleased one had gotten that controlling brute. To be free of him and his pesky birds, Scratch and Sniff, gave Elovi all the courage he needed to take charge of his life. For the better part of two decades he had travelled the world, seeking treasures and discovering new lands and peoples. Every day a new adventure to embark on, sharing the glorious times with the only friends and family he had ever known. Those were the best days of his life.

Now, though, his life was boring and monotonous. He almost never got to go out on raids, nor be consulted for important decisions. Even when they pulled into port, he was forced to mind the cargo or the captain's brat son. Worst of all, whenever something went wrong, he was always implicated and punished. Life never gave Elovi a break anymore. Unsurprisingly, the captain had saddled him with assisting his son's entourage for this expedition.

Why it was so important to capture these magical creatures, when they could've just slain them for their venom, was beyond Elovi. He could think of many beasts that would make better investments than these problematic ones. The whole ordeal didn't feel worth it. A shame the Charmers hadn't discovered their risky venture, he mused. They could've helped catch and barrel the slithershades, but he doubted they would be pleased with them violating their territory. It had been a long and gruelling week, but miraculously they had caught half a dozen of the shadowy demons.

As he contemplated the last few frustrating days, the sun set and the forest became dark and less pleasant. Something snapped behind him.

"Ah, problem here!" Quabbe exclaimed. Elovi was just getting used to the peaceful trekking.

"What?!" he said, turning around.

Quabbe didn't have to explain; the problem was plain to see. One of the shoulder straps for his chest had broken, and the twerp was trying to keep his balance with the other.

Elovi rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Put it down, stupid. You're going to break your back carrying it like that."

He did as he was told and Elovi examined the damage. The strap had completely perished. Why Quabbe didn't notice this before it broke was beyond him. Then again, he wasn't particularly mindful. Elovi checked his pockets and sacks for something to perhaps tie what was left back together but found nothing.

"Gods above, it'll be morning by the time we get out of this blasted forest," he groaned. "Hold this." Elovi thrust the torch into the twerp's hand.

"Hey!" Quabbe whined.

"Don't let it go out."

Before Quabbe could protest, Elovi unloaded his heavy metal-framed chest onto the ground and marched off into the darkening woods.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Going to find some vines, that's what. Now stay put and mind the cargo. I don't want to lose the trail out of here," he shouted as he left Quabbe behind.

"Oh, okay."

Elovi stomped through the brush, partly due to frustration but also to scare any creatures out of his way. He grumbled to himself as he weaved through the bushes and shrubs. He shouldn't have to put up with this from Quabbe. He was no pup anymore. If it wasn't for the sentimental value he still held for his father and uncle, he would just leave him here in this forest.

The three of them had been like brothers. Nothing in the world could break the bond they'd had in the years he was his own captain. Then it all tore apart on one fateful raid. If only he'd had his wits about him that day; if only he had been content with what he had, they'd still be alive and he would still be as strong as he once was. Thinking of them just made him upset. He pushed them out of his mind as he pushed the branches out of his way like a prickly cloud.

As he barged through the thick underbrush, Elovi had to keep his hand out in front of him. The red moon was out, so there was some light seeping through the canopy to help him navigate. However, with no torchlight, the forest colours remained muted. Fortunately, he wouldn't need colour to find what he required. He kept blinking to let his eyes adjust to the dark. With every step, the gloom and speckled moonlight turned more rigid and stark. He made mental notes of landmarks and marked trees with a small dagger so he wouldn't lose his way back.

As he trekked downhill, the sounds of the forest grew more noticeable. The odd critter crossed his path, but scurried away almost immediately. Owls weaved through the gaps in the trees, only the occasional soft flap of their wings betraying their presence. The howl of a wolf in the distance carried through the still air like a sad ballad. Elovi listened, wondering what made his lesser kind sound so mournful without words.

After a short while, he heard the quiet gurgle of a stream and the steady buzz of crickets. A few strides later he parted some branches to find himself in a shallow gulley. Above him, the sky peeked through the canopy like an open wound tracing up and down the narrow stream. The first stars were coming out and the red moon's pale glow illuminated the gulley.

Looking up and down the drenched clearing, he breathed a sigh of relief. Just beyond a bend in the stream surrounded by some dull spirit gems was an old willow. Elovi hopped over to the mass of vines hanging over the small gap in the woods like a curtain. Measuring up the length needed for a makeshift rope, he grabbed a large handful together and cut the vines loose.

The light of the red moon helped him twist the vines together and coil them around his arm. However, just his luck, he stepped into the stream as he backed up from the willow. The splash alerted some wildlife nearby, which bolted away into the thicket. His boot got soaked before he could move it.

"Urgh! Why?! I knew it was there!"

He grumbled at his carelessness, hopped across the stream, and made his way back the way he'd come. More animals erupted out of the underbrush and trees around him, scattering every which way. All manner of birds emerged from the trees and flapped overhead towards the gulley and out through the canopy. Ignoring the activity, Elovi marched unimpeded back to the trail, trying to stamp the water out of his boot.

His night vision was much better now. He didn't have to hold his hand out in front, and finding his marked trees was easy enough. His foot was freezing now, an annoyance he'd rather not put up with. Elovi kept stamping through the forest, still grumbling about his current predicament. His footsteps sounded unusually loud as he trudged back uphill.

When he found himself rising out of the shallow valley, he searched for the orange glow of Quabbe's torch through the trees. He couldn't see it. He must have walked further than he'd realised. Only after walking a little further did he notice something. Something that was no longer there to notice. He stopped dead upon realising it.

It was silent.

He could hear his breath, but nothing else. The soft rustling of small critters, the odd bird call – they were gone. Even the distant wolf's howling had ceased. Everything seemed darker too. Looking around, he noticed a spirit gem from earlier lacked its distinctive green glow.

The fur on the back of his neck stood on end and his bad arm twitched. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. Elovi wasn't afraid of the dark and he wasn't scared to put up a fight, either. He placed his hand on the hilt of his scimitar and drew it partially out. The steel-on-steel clink sounded awkwardly ominous in the soundless abyss. Cautiously, he walked forward.

A few moments later, Elovi began to see flickering torchlight bouncing off the trees and canopy up ahead. He was about to call out to Quabbe but stopped himself. Something wasn't right about the lighting. It seemed too cool to be firelight, but there was still an odd warmth to its hue. Had the twerp let the torch go out? Could it just be the moonlight? He looked up to check but remembered how thick the canopy was here.

He took his time to get back to the trail, careful not to make too much noise. If it was a forest local, he wasn't going to let their home ground get the better of him. As he neared, it became clear the firelight wasn't the orange flame of their torch. It was a vibrant purple, but flickered unlike fire would. He was confused and unnerved, clutching at any rational thought to reassure himself.

The forest remained still as a statue. Not a sound could be heard except Elovi's shallow breathing and his heartbeat drumming in his ears. He came to the last trees and bushes before the trail. If Quabbe had his wits about him, he should know he was here. And if this was a massive prank, he definitely would leave the twerp in this dreaded place.

He took a shallow breath, rounded the last tree, and took a brave look. Crossing the threshold, his hand gripped tightly on his weapon. His eyes darted about, searching, perplexed by what he was seeing. His brow furrowed, but only for a precious moment.

Just five yards from him, the reinforced chests they were hauling had been broken apart. Glowing blue crystal and broken glass littered the ground. He grimaced. Their cargo would've escaped and all the hard work to catch them was now wasted. Then his eyes found Quabbe.

Elovi's mouth fell open and his eyes watered. Quabbe lay broken and motionless on the ground, his black and charred hand still clutching the now extinguished torch. His clothes and fur were smouldering and the thick stench of burnt flesh found its way into Elovi's nostrils. He brought his free hand to cover his mouth, blinking and shaking his head in shock.

That was when he saw it.

His gaze froze on a glowing purple mist. It wavered like flames but with no crackle to be heard. It clawed at shining purple shards upon the ground in several spots like taloned legs. Wisps of ethereal purple embers fanned out and twisted like graceful limbs. The fiery aura surrounded an emptiness Elovi couldn't place. He saw the forest through its unreal body, but still sensed a living presence there. The eerie form stood as tall as a bear, vaguely reflecting a winged quadruped. Its undefined head, hidden in an indigo hood of smoke, scanned its environment.

Elovi leered at it. Unthinking and forgetting himself for a second, he momentarily lost his balance. A twig snapped, loud and sharp. The entity shifted to face it.

The ghost of violet light swirled and stoked. Slowly, the roar of a furnace emanated from the flames. Elovi stepped back. The dark spirit shone brighter and its shape grew sharper. A hard neon border between its invisible body and fiery aura formed. Coursing with a violet and indigo inferno, transparent claws, legs, tail, neck, and wide leathery wings emerged, as constellations rippled over its form like scales. In seconds, a snarling dragon's head with glowing teeth, throat, and large bolt-like horns, blazed into corporeal existence. Its imperceptible eyelids, bursting with fiery indigo, faced him.

Elovi stumbled back against a tree and fumbled with his scimitar, drawing it with a piercing scrape that echoed like the tolling of a bell in a cathedral. Bathed in a torrent of purple fire, the dragon-shaped entity rose on its empty hind legs, spreading its flaming wings. Its eyes opened.

Twin stars of blinding light locked on him, burning his retinas. When he tried to cover his eyes, a dragon's roar bellowed from the fiery ghost's maw, a horrendous scream that morphed into the sound of tearing metal. It blasted Elovi's ears, vibrated his blade, and rang him to the bone. The beast leapt into the air, drenching the entire forest in a surreal glow. Shadows fled off the trees in its purging light.

Backed up against the tree, Elovi beheld terror descend upon him. All but one thought ran from his mind. Run.

Fiery claws cleaved the tree in two, missing Elovi by an inch. Running frantically into the thick of the forest, he held his blade with his life and cut down all branches and bushes in his way. His pulse hammered in his head. A cacophony of unholy roars, explosions, loud cracks and thuds, droned through him as he fled. His silhouette danced before him, the unreal light washing over everything else.

His instincts screamed at him not to look back, but the thick undergrowth slowing him down made him feel trapped. The makeshift rope around his arm snagged on a branch, throwing him to the ground in a twirl. As he got up and tore the viny cord away, he caught sight of his pursuer.

It was tearing up the forest like a tornado. Trees fell and burst into orange streamers of heat and burning wood, mingling with the dark aura of the purple fiery beast. The ethereal creature leapt from tree to tree. A torrent of fire and ash trailed its terrifying rampage.

The momentary glance drove needles through Elovi's chest. His body moved without effort, tumbling over roots, mud, thorns and broken branches as they clawed at his clothes, and face. He barely noticed the pain, only the hot fear filling his mind and limbs, pumping his heart and legs to get away.

He ran as far and as fast as he could. Every sound and flash of light pushed him to the limit. He lost all track of how much time had passed; seconds, minutes, hours? He didn't care. He kept on running and scrambling through the thick forest.

Despite his night vision and the violet illumination, Elovi missed the steep decline in the land. He fell and rolled haphazardly through the bushes and muddy slopes, trying to plant his feet on the ground, his scimitar slipping from his hand. Its steel twang reverberated off a tree, followed by a springing thwack of it embedding itself in another.

The sound jolted him to his senses. He held his arms forward, scraping his palms and bruising himself upon impact. Sliding through the wet leaf litter, he came to a stop at the base of great trunk. He sucked in a deep breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

Elovi scrambled to his feet and looked around frantically. Trees, bushes and branches filled his field of view in all directions. Up the hill from where he'd fallen, an orange glow illuminated the canopy behind the dark bleak trees beyond the crest. A faint shine of purple light shifted amid the fiery glow. He blinked and it was gone.

He stood there for an uncertain moment, staring at the distant flickering light, his mind blank and thumping. Only when he cleared his throat did he begin to feel his hammering heart, burning limbs, aching arm and stinging gashes. It hit him like a sack of bricks, bringing him back to the wet leafy ground. Elovi was exhausted, but not enough to not expressed his anguish and terror.

He howled in pain like the wolf from earlier. Groans and wails echoed throughout the forest. Only the distant crackling of a growing fire accompanied him. He shivered on the cold ground, hacking up coughs. The frantic flight had torn his jacket to shreds, allowing the cold wet ground to seep into his chest. He hugged himself with what strength he could muster. His arms, chest and face stung in numerous places. Blood leaked from his cuts like weeping tears, while actual tears began to stream from his old wrinkled eyes. He sobbed bitterly.

What was happening and why was it happening to him, he begged incoherently. He wanted to know what that _thing _was, and why Quabbe was a burnt carcass, and what he was going to do now. The realisation he was now lost in this horrifying place with no way out hurt like a sharp twisting knot in his head. Everything was wrong.

He didn't have much time to ponder all these grievances. Movement caught his bleary eyes, causing him to painfully jolt his head up at the canopy. Glittering orange light seemed to pierce through the foliage. Elovi rubbed his eyes. He squinted at what he was seeing. The light coming through the canopy looked off. It was too soft, too close. He shifted upright against the tree and did a double take. The life fled from his face.

Black scales rippled with the orange firelight. Glowing red eyes hovered gracefully as they weaved their way down to him. A long coiling body slipped in and out of existence as it passed through the flickering shadows of the forest fire. Wisps of smoke trailed from its opening maw, bluish-white fangs unsheathing from shadowy darkness as it slithered like a shade down the branches.

The brush rustled at the foot of the roots. He looked and saw another phasing snake coiling towards his feet, its forked tongue licking as it poised to strike. Deep hissing droned through his skin and his body screamed at him to flee, but Elovi couldn't summon the strength to get up, let alone run.

As the two magical snakes drew in for the kill, to end his pathetic existence, Elovi managed a bleak smile. Despite the turn of events, the exhaustion burning through his limbs, and the fear eating at his soul, he couldn't help but see the humour in this situation.

"I ran… in the same… direction as… you fellas..." he murmured.

Elovi slumped against the tree, his strength and will gone. He began to drift off as a sharp stinging pierced his arm. A rustle of brush and sudden thuds filled his ears, as some hypnotic chanting, panicked shouting, and a spinning world lulled him to sleep.


End file.
